Magnetically actuated devices may be designed for a variety of purposes such as, e.g., electrical switching, position sensing, synchronization, flow measurement, and stirring. Particularly important among such devices are so-called reed switches as described, e.g., in the book by L. R. Moskowitz, Permanent Magnet Design and Application Handbook, Cahners Books, 1976, pp. 211-220; in U.S. Pat. No. 3,624,568, issued Nov. 30, 1971 to K. M. Olsen et al.; in U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,378, issued Apr. 23, 1974 to W. E. Archer et al.; and in the paper by M. R. Pinnel, "Magnetic Materials for Dry Reed Contacts", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. MAG-12, No. 6, November 1976, pp. 789-794. Reed switches comprise flexible metallic reeds which are made of a material having semihard magnetic properties as characterized by an essentially square B--H hysteresis loop and high remanent induction B.sub.r ; during operation reeds bend elastically so as to make or break electrical contact in response to changes in a magnetic field.
Among established alloys having semihard magnetic properties are Co--Fe--V alloys known as Vicalloy and Remendur, Co--Fe--Nb alloys known as Nibcolloy, and Co--Fe--Ni--Al--Ti alloys known as Vacozet. These alloys possess adequate magnetic properties; however, they contain substantial amounts of cobalt whose rising cost in world markets causes concern. Moreover, high cobalt alloys tend to be brittle, i.e., to lack sufficient cold formability for shaping, e.g., by cold drawing, rolling, bending, or flattening.
Relevant with respect to the invention are the book by R. M. Bozorth, Ferromagnetism, Van Nostrand, 1959, pp. 34-37, pp. 236-238, and p. 417; the paper by W. S. Messkin et al., "Experimentelle Nachprufung der Akulovschen Theorie der Koerzitivkraft", Zeitschrift fur Physik, Vol. 98 (1936), pp. 610-623; the paper by H. Masumoto et al., "Characteristics of Fe-Mo and Fe-W Semihard Magnet Alloys", Journal of the Japanese Institute of Metals, Vol. 43 (1979), pp. 506-512; and the paper by K. S. Seljesater et al., "Magnetic and Mechanical Hardness of Dispersion Hardened Iron Alloys", Transactions of the American Society for Steel Treating, Vol. 19, pp. 553-576. These references are concerned with Fe-Mo binary alloys, their preparation, and their mechanical and magnetic properties. Phase diagrams of Fe--Mo--Ni ternary alloys appear in W. Koster, "Das System Eisen-Nickel-Molybdan", Archiv fur das Eisenhuttenwesen, Vol. 8, No. 4 (October 1934), pp. 169-171 and in Metals Handbook, American Society for Metals, Vol. 8, p. 431.